Lifting the curse

He might have bought you

when he was a younger man

Because that was the times

We all had a plan

A plantation of posibility

A prosperous destiny

This tabacco plantation

will go down in history

Not as a becon of pride

for my klan...

 

This plantation of damnation

has plighted our family

There are souls tied to nooses

dangling from trees

there is a graveyard in the bushes

that bares no headstones

a graveyard filled with restless souls

and tired beaten bones.

 

I was a child

when Daddy sold his last slave

a brave little boy ...

 

That boy may have been you

You are about my age

Over the century

you sure have changed

Changed like the visions

which haunt this place

vauguely familiar

Yet never the same

I am sickened by the memory

 of the slaves murdered here

They forbid me to leave.

 

That boy ,if he's you

put a curse on my klan

If I ever leave

this God forsaken land

all of my children are

forever damned

 

Everyone I love

abandoned me in this place

Where the fields of tobacco

laced with blood and disgrace

I don't wish to leave

I just want to dream

 when I go to sleep

I want to dream 

About when we used to play

when I was a boy

and you were a slave.

 

If you have come here today

to lift this curse

there is no need for a funeral

no need for a hurst

Bury me in the bushes

with no headstone

so I may free those poor souls

and carry them home. 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Emily Burns]

The North had slavery. Slavery has existed in various forms all over the world. My ancestors came on ships from Ireland. They were called indentured servants, but they were slaves. Their terms were too often life sentences.

And come to think of it, how many of us have the freedom to walk away from our jobs? We are still slaves.

[Ees]

In the first stanza:
"Because that was the times" -confusion.
should be either:
because those were the times
OR
because that was the time.
because you have one as singular and the other as plural, so think about how you want to say that.

This is a really interesting poem and a really interesting way to look at the issue of slavery, how its existence in some ways cursed both sides. My grandfather was a carpenter, but I can't build houses. No one expects me to be what he was, yet for some reason I think sometimes the link of slavery can be attached down the years. I live in Rochester, NY, so I don't really know. And my family came to this area after slavery was over- so I don't know what it is like to live in an area that might have some old plantation families still around...

I really enjoyed reading this thought-provaking poem.

[Revolutionary]

I need to fix a lot in this poem.I actually forgot about it.Maybe I will find time today.Thanks for your review

[Brad]

so poignant...i don't think i've ever read something like this before...hit the emotional hot spots dead on

[Ama May Cooper]

What a rather educated piece of poetry... slavery depicted by honesty it is how it was back then and i feel there is to much hatrid for hte people of day left on it , it was not the white people her etoday who changed up those of colour and it was not those of colour today who' were chained up so why are we sitting here blaming each other for it.. As you state in your poetry it as how it was but you would not dream of it now.

My favorite verse was the graveyard one, the one about the dead bodies and no headstones, i found it very symobolic .. but you show grave affection for these wrong doings.. it is a powerful and espically brilliant piece.

A political and historical poem of great talent and wise words.

[Marie]

Slavery was a curse. My family owned slaves. But I do not carry that curse. I do not expect the genreration ahead of me to carry my dishonors...

[emrick]

touchy.
i agree with emily buns that we are still slaves n we will eva be till the 2nd coming of christ.but slavery of this generation is better than those of the past generation.

[Raef C. Boylan]

Pretty profound piece; nice work.
You really captured the voice of this character, and the casual assonance in your rhyme structure works fluidly ("clan...land...damned" etc).
I like your writing style.

p.s.
It's been over a week since you posted - if you'd like a hand with the spelling, let me know(?)

[....]

Your writing is really good, I like the imagery in this piece.
Very nicely written

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

a slight sense of unease in this, a well written prose.

[Neva Flores - Changeful..]

a fabulous piece..........living in the deep south like I do has caused me to have thoughts about the history of slavery here in Georgia and wonder about restless spirits that remain. Bravo

[Chris G. Vaillancourt]

these lines are very powerfully conveyed. Good one.